ESPN.com · Mar 6, 2017
Tim DeRuyter takes over Cal's defensive disaster
Good defense is about talent and scheme. Just about every coach will tell you the former is more important than the latter, as winning one-on-one battles is the foundation of good defense. But to be great, a defense needs both.
California had neither last year. So, yeah, it was a defensive disaster.
Disaster? The Bears yielded 42.6 points per game, which ranked 127th -- second to last -- in the nation. To call their run defense milquetoast is to do an injustice to Caspar Milquetoast, the "Timid Soul" of the Harold T. Webster comic from the 1920s. The Bears yielded 6.15 yards per carry, worst in the nation.